The Echoes of Legends
by ShivanSlayer
Summary: The warriors of old are long forgotten. In this age, an immortal Emperor controls all, even history itself. But history cannot deny legend and the echoes it leaves on people, past present and future. This is the story of a young woman, Ovosh, a simple citizen of an expansive Empire, whom shall be shaken by these legends.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

"Arise" spoke the soothing low voice.

Her eyes opened, staring at the masked face. The being who wore the mask wasn't really there, it was all on an LCD. Still, his presence was felt. Eyes that could be observed through the sockets of the mask were crimson red, and pierced her very soul, seeing everything her heart could hold. In the Galactic Terran Empire, no citizen had secrets.

"Arise" repeated the masked man behind the screen. Even an image, formed by thousands upon thousands of pixels of varying shades across the visible light spectrum, could inspire respect, even fear.

But such was the nature of the Emperor. He was made of billions of parts. His loyal citizens, the military which served him without question, the vast expanse of the Empire itself, all added to the grandness and the majesty, of the Emperor himself.

This day was not special, or unique in any way, similar to most days within the Empire. For eighteen years, 4 months and 16 days, Ovosh had risen, in response to her Emperor. Naturally, her body resisted the Emperor's command, and it was a bit of a struggle to rise from the modest comfort of her bed. But it was a protocol she had followed to the letter, and the instincts of the body could be overcome with routines, and repetition.

Ovosh wiped some gunk that had gotten beneath her eye, and walked most carefully to the sink in her room. She activated the water briefly, splashing some on her face. But, as she looked into the mirror, she saw something that frightened her. Staring back was a monster, a demon of some sort. It resembled her in a way, probably the most disturbing feature. Most noticeably, however, the demon had radiant golden hair, and piercing, pupil-less teal eyes, strikingly different from her black hair and brown eyes. A strange aura emitted from this creature, as golden as the hair itself.

But it was only for a moment that she saw this specter in the mirror. Ovosh was taken rather aback by it, especially since it resembled her. It was a waste of thought to think upon it, however. She went ahead to finish her morning tasks, calming down her hair to be presentable for morning announcements, putting on the necessary clothes to perform her role within the Empire. As she used the last of the water for neatening her shoulder-length hair, the prompt in the sink alerted her that she had 10 gallons remaining for this month.

As she exited her room, she could observe others doing the same. There was a twisting feeling in her gut, something that she would feel over the years, something that she could never pin down what it quite was. But now, at this moment, she knew what it was: resentment, anger, pride. She could never exactly explain why she felt these, but she knew what they were. And, she knew that they were undesirable emotions, something she had to purge, if she were to remain a loyal asset to the Empire.

Ovosh entered the elevator, which would lead to a check out room. From there she would board a rail to the grand hall of their city, where daily announcements would be made. Then, she would be able to work in her role, maintaining the city's power grid.

If only destiny had planned for her day to be that simple.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Call to Live**

* * *

In the elevator, Ovosh was a body among many. Not a word was spoken to the other occupants. The same blank stare covered all of their faces, filled with contemplation on their day's tasks. Not a single thought occurred as to why they were doing what they were doing, it was simply the way things were. It was dangerous, to consider "why" instead of "what". It lead to even more volatile perspectives, perspectives that the demons and barbarians of the unaligned systems held. Such an individual who held these thoughts close to their heart was useless, and liable for termination.

The gray, cold, precise mechanics of the elevator hissed to a halt, and opened up. The auditorium was large, open, allowing the citizens a grand view of the skyline of their city. The city's design was logical, precise and utilitarian; each part fit exactly where it needed to. No space was wasted, no building was larger than it ever needed to be. No skyscraper reached higher than what the Empire required. Everything was in balance, in perfect harmony. The hall of the city was large simply because a large area was essential so that many people could gather and witness the wisdom of their Emperor.

Ovosh found her place among the crowd, which was lined up in large blocks, forming straight lines and rows. Even the diagonals of these regulated square blocks of humanity were flawless. In her place, Ovosh was a dot, a piece in a grand formation.

Surrounding them, also in formation, were some of the local military, in full uniform. Their military jackets were steel gray, the helmets they wore led one to question whether a human being breathed through the air filters appended to them. Creases were nonexistent, the shoulders of the jackets were proudly angled, broad, and their black boots were devoid of smudges. No visible weapons could be found on these personnel. Since the tumultuous old days, the human body itself was a formidable weapon.

A whistle was heard, and immediately, Ovosh's spine, along with those of her fellow citizens', stiffened and straightened in response to it. There was a clearing in the middle of the formation of humanity, with a white podium standing proudly in the middle. It was clearly hiding some hidden mechanisms of an electronic nature within its divine exterior. A soldier maneuvered through the crowd, and made his way up to this podium. He was clearly a commander, for his jacket had several additional dark gray sashes going from his left shoulder down to his right hip. His voice carried throughout the room, for he had a small microphone in his hand that allowed him to transmit what he said into the surrounding speaker system of the hall.

"Citizens, you are ordered to give your full attention. Our most powerful and wise Emperor is about to impart words upon us."

With that, he retreated, and gave his full attention to a specter that was forming above the podium. Blue light emitted from the device, projecting an image of a hooded figure. While the holographic image was in blue-scale, many could tell that the hood the man wore was immaculate white. And every one recognized the mask that their Emperor wore, as his cold piercing gaze seemed to fill the room with his serene presence.

"Loyal citizens, of our great, Galactic Terran Empire. We stand as a beacon of order, in chaotic times. From the ashes of the demons of old, I built this Empire to display humanity's might to the denizens, heretics, and pagans of the galaxy. The once mighty alien forces, who viewed our blue world as nothing but commerce, now cower in fear of terra's power. The heretics, who rejected our enlightened teachings now slither and sulk in an unregulated chaotic mess, where they fight each other, as much as us."

The man's voice began increasing in intensity, and the crowd gravitated towards their Emperor, his mere words filling them with energy.

"I tell you! Who has the might to stand against us? The demons of the Planet Trade Organization who bicker in their decadence and pettiness? Whose only source of strength is reminiscing of their better days? And what about the terrorist organization 'Z'? Heretics who worship nothing but an echo! Who spend all their days wishing for a greater power to wipe us out! But I tell you my loyal citizens, my mighty military, there is no greater power in this universe than us! For even gods tremble, as they gnash their teeth! Long live the Empire!"

The Emperor's last words were not a simple statement, they were a command. A command that all repeat the glorious statement, "Long live the Empire." And the organized thongs of citizens did so, repeatedly, with thousands of voices mixing together, to create a massive crescendo, a symphony of dedication to their Emperor. For it was he who was the Empire.

Finally, the chant died down, and the citizens were dismissed. Even as they split up to attend their daily tasks, they still managed to form organized formations as they walked to the various transportation hubs. Ovosh had reached her transportation point, a high-speed monorail. As she waited, she could observe the morning sun break through the drab skyline.

How interesting it was, their sun. The Vega star was blue-white in color. It seemed to ignite the buildings with its brilliant light, coloring in the various structures and the sky. Ovosh could only stare, transfixed at its magnificence. The fact that it was mostly superheated Hydrogen was an insignificant tidbit, and an inadequate description of what she saw. The star seemed much more than that. And even though long-distance space travel was now possible, and incredibly common, the sun was still so far out of her reach.

The speeding monorail, with its logical utilitarian lines had the displeasure of blocking out the Vega star from Ovosh's sight. A sinking feeling was felt in her stomach, but once again, she could not put her finger on why that was. It was a simple sunrise, and not even that, the planet's rotation gave the illusion of the sun rising. This event occurred numerous times during her lifespan. What was so significant about it?

The monorail came to a stop, mechanical hissing could be heard as the brakes were applied. Ovosh stepped into its interior dutifully, quickly assuming her assigned seat in the transport. Once all citizens had boarded, the monorail sped off, ferrying the citizens to their duties. Once it had arrived to the power plant, Ovosh immediately rose from her seat, then disembarked. She walked in formation with a bunch of other fellow power plant workers. They were of different heights, different genders, different skin colors. But as they walked, each step matching the person ahead of them, they all looked exactly the same.

White doors greeted the dutiful workers, and parted to give them access to the building. The interior was less uniform than most of the other buildings of the city, steel pipes flowed erratically, and wires crossed to transport the needed power to critical sections. The formation held, as the group entered a mess hall, with long tables lining the inside of the room. A serving area could be found, as well as a line of human beings waiting to get their nutrition for the morning.

A tray was dispensed as each worker took one, then proceeded to grab a provisions box. Once it was Ovosh's turn, a mechanical voice reported, "Name: Ovosh, Id: SSJ-123, Gender: Female, partitioning recommended calorie intake for time slot 7-11am." Her provision box was then mechanically provided to her. Ovosh then took off, easily finding a seat within the hall. Opening her box, one could observe it was filled with many different colored cubes. These colors were for purely informational purposes of course. Brown was for starches, tan for proteins, green for vitamins, red for minerals, white for calcium, and so on. As she began supplying her body with these nutrients, her fellow co-workers began taking seats next to her, not saying a word, silently opening their nutrition packs and consuming them.

The cubes were stout, yet squishy. They had a very faint taste. Ovosh tended to savor the glucose cubes, though, again, she couldn't figure why this was the case. Every nutrient was important for her to function throughout the day, why did she favor the glucose cubes? And why were there so few of them? Ovosh shut her mind off to these incriminating questions. She had a duty to perform for the empire, taking her mind off her tasks for the day would only hinder her abilities. But first, she had to finish her supplements.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could spot a lone worker, who didn't have a nutrition box. He sat with his hands clasped, his right foot tapping on the cold tiled floor, creating a rhythmic beat. He was a very peculiar sight. His vibrant crimson hair, which was unkept and unruly, spiking out from all over his head, made him stick out even more. But the most unsettling thing about him, was that periodically, Ovosh would see him glance in her direction. She was sure he was staring at her, that he wasn't inspecting some nearby object in her vicinity.

Her co-workers also noticed this anomaly, as they began giving this unknown worker confused looks. He quickly looked away, looking back at his folded hands, as he continued tapping his foot against the floor.

"I do not recognize that man, do you think he is a new acquisition?" said one of the co-workers, a female by the name of Kras. She possessed strawberry blonde hair and muted green eyes. From her physical appearance, it one could discern that she had lived a bit longer a life than Ovosh.

"A very strange speciman," noted one of the male-coworkers, a brown haired man who went by the name of Boris. "His conditioning might have been inadequate."

But how could such conditioning be inadequate? Newborn humans were taught from birth, the proper protocols and regulations to observe. If the conditioning was not effective on the psyche, the subject would be terminated. Ovosh made this thought known out loud to her co-workers, "If he possessed inadequate conditioning, he would not be present here."

All of the co-workers, six in all, including Ovosh, nodded in agreement. It was indeed a comfort to be around people that shared perspectives. While all the people in the Empire were in agreement, smaller, subtler traits that aligned allowed these people to work more effectively and efficiently. But seeing such an anomaly such as this, piqued something dangerous within Ovosh.

"Perhaps it would be prudent to query him upon his strange condition?" Ovosh offered. "It would be best to know his eccentricities, so that we may better integrate him into the system."

"A prudent suggestion," responded a dark-skinned coworker, going by the name of Bosch, "But it is unnecessary. The overseer and the conditioning division are the ones who see to that. We must be mindful to never go beyond our assigned duties."

"Right," murmured the various other coworkers. Ovosh could not find herself agreeing. Of course Bosch's reasoning made sense, if they, power plant workers, tried performing the duties of the conditioning squad, they would fail, and it would distract from their true work, creating an imbalance whose effects would be felt throughout the Empire.

But still, Ovosh needed to exchange words with the strange newcomer. There was no pragmatic reason that required that she spoke to this stranger. This was not outlined in her duty description, nor was it specified in her conditioning. It was something far darker, and far more dangerous. It was not the Ovosh, loyal citizen and power grid maintainer of the Empire that thought this. It was that frightening specter that she saw in the mirror earlier that morning. The one with the golden hair. Whose face was contorted in ways Ovosh never even imagined a human face could be shaped in. The golden-haired beast experienced emotions that only the barbarians of old felt. And what this golden-haired fiend felt, was that she _wanted_ to speak to the curious red-haired stranger.

And so, Ovosh's feet slowly caused her to stand, closing her provisions box, leaving some of the cubes in the vessel, and she began making her way towards the empty table. Her coworkers gave her confused looks, and rightfully so, Ovosh still believed this was an unnecessary act. But she still walked, until she had made it to the spot opposite of the newcomer.

His foot had stopped tapping, and he stopped looking at his clasped hands. His head slowly raised, to look directly at the woman across from him.

"Well?" he asked.

Well? What was the context of the question? At least, his exaggerated inflection seemed to indicate that it was a question. What use did he expect to gain from asking such a question? Ovosh attempted to dismiss it as another deviant quirk.

"You display deviant behavior, fellow co-worker. I was ..."

What were the words? Ovosh kept desperately searching for them. What made her come to him?

"Was your curiosity piqued?" filled in the stranger. Ovosh tilted her head, confused by the concept he presented.

"My curiosity?" Ovosh questioned, "I'm not sure what you mean by that."

"You know," he urged, his lips forming into a concave curve, the ends pointing upwards. It was an expression she had rarely seen, but she could tell what it meant. Usually, someone would perform this action if something productive was accomplished in less than the estimated time, or upon hearing news of Imperial victories over the barbarians and terrorists.

"Why else would you come here?" he finished, a question of his own, at least a coherent and complete one.

"I ... I..." The words, usually so regulated and rehearsed, were now dancing on the edge of Ovosh's tongue. Her eyes darted around, trying to engineer a solution to this problem. She felt herself staring into the stranger's face, into his vibrant eyes. Her face began to heat up, surely something was wrong. Why was this so? What purpose did her face heating up serve. The temperature in the room had not changed, there was no need for her body to compensate for loss of heat in the building.

"Overseer!" shouted a distant voice, staccato in its delivery.

Ovosh's spine once more straightened and stiffened, her hands, one of them still clutching her nutrition box, went limp, and down to her sides. The overseer was at the entrance to the mess hall, also exhibiting a strong posture, but his feet were spread a shoulder's length apart, and his hands were folded behind his back. He was a substantial man, height-wise, he had the advantage over nearly every worker in the power-plant, save for possibly Bosch. The overseer then loosened his posture, a signal that the other workers were to do the same.

He began making his way through the mess hall, clearly headed in Ovosh's, and the mysterious coworker's direction. Each step he made was heavy and controlled. His clean-shaven, slightly-aged face wore a neutral, yet serious expression. Finally, he reached their position, stopping almost instantaneously, his boots making a small squeak upon the clean floor. He gave Ovosh a rather unassuming glance, before turning to the stranger, his eyes narrowing.

"And who would you be?" he asked, his voice deep and commanding, as if not asking a question, but demanding an answer. "I was not notified of a new acquisition to Power Plant Vega 0x48ae."

"Oh!" the stranger responded, perspiration forming on his face, "Right! Ah, sorry about that sir. You should find me in the database, this was a rather quick transfer."

"Really?" inquired the overseer, raising an eyebrow. "It is protocol that new transfers, whether they be off or on-planet, are known by me, said information provided by the authorities of the source. It is not good practice to violate these rules; good communication is critical for the health and efficiency of the Empire."

"S-sorry!" apologized the man, head bowing down. As he did this, the overseer brought his right arm out in front of him, chest-level. There was a small key-pad attached to the limb, upon his wrist. He keyed in a sequence of inputs, and a holographic screen was projected, right in front of his face. The screen was an information table, possibly containing the names and ids of the workers at the power plant. The device scanned the stranger, taking in account his hair color, eye color, cell makeup, height, weight, and many other details.

"Id: TR-8R, Name: Kei, Status: newcomer, training required in the regulator division."

"Ah, I see," commented the overseer, his voice barely changing in inflection, unlike the stranger. The overseer then took his eyes off from the device on his wrist, and directed them towards the worker named "Kei". "It is fortunate," he added on, "that you have taken a position near the regulator division". He then motioned to Ovosh herself, who kept motionless, and at attention.

"We need a day to get you acquainted with the system. Unfortunately, since I wasn't notified of your transfer, we will not be able to provide provisions for you, until I send a notice to the metropolis center. Do you believe you can learn this duty to the best of your ability, despite insufficient nutrition?"

"Yes sir!" Kei responded loudly. The overseer grimaced at the unusually upfront statement. Turning completely around, he headed to the exit of the mess hall, saying not too subtly, "And we'll probably have to refine those behavioral quirks of yours, but it shouldn't require anything too drastic."

With his exit, Ovosh exhaled, her body able to release the strain previously exerted upon it. She looked to her new comrade. It was strange, they were fully staffed in the regulator and control division. It was indeed a while since they had a new acquisition. She was not the most recent addition, and from her tenure at the power station, she knew that several members had to be rotated out, depending on physical health, or need in other areas of the Empire.

Something did pop to the forefront of Ovosh's mind, something important. She still had provisions reserved in her container.

She held out the box in front of her, presenting it to Kei. "There are some provisions I have not yet consumed. It would be beneficial if I reserved them for you."

The man's eyes widened, taken off guard. Yes, she wouldn't blame him, it was indeed a strange thing that she was doing. But, he wouldn't learn if his body was completely depleted for the morning shift.

"T-that's very ... kind of you," he said, his mouth curling into that peculiar formation once more. There was something indeed intriguing about this action he did, it made Ovosh herself feel ... happy, an emotion, once again, rarely felt, but recognizable.

"There are many tasks and protocols to observe in this duty," Ovosh countered, "What I'm doing is logical."

"It's logically kind of you." he quipped, now his mouth was open, but his teeth were closed. This new expression, now displaying his incisors, and canines, did stir even more of this happiness within Ovosh. She prompted him to take the provisions box, and he did just that. Once he had opened it, he began consuming the nutrition cubes at a frighteningly fast rate.

"Slow down!" Ovosh cautioned, "There is still an insufficient amount for the morning, consuming them slower will allow your body to optimize nutrition intake."

"Sorry," he apologized, while some of the cubes were still partially broken down in his mouth. Ovosh winced at this, then felt a presence behind her. Turning her head, her coworkers had gathered around, clearly intrigued by the exchange taking place.

"We should hurry up," the blonde female, Kras, suggested, "It is nearing the hour that we begin our shift."

"Agreed," Ovosh concurred, then motioned to Kei to get into formation. He wasn't exactly the best at guiding to the line; he formed a clear aberration in their formation, now with seven people.

"Are you sure that was a pragmatic action?" a low voice questioned behind Ovosh. It was Bosch, and he was wearing a concerned expression upon his face.

"Would you please specify the action?" Ovosh asked back, now once again feeling her face heat up. But this was a different kind of heat, a more volatile one. The heat that the mysterious golden-haired monster in the mirror thrived on.

Bosch cleared his throat, "You partitioned your unfinished nutrition cubes to our new co-worker. You will both have insufficient nutrition for the morning. Are you sure _you_ will be able to operate at 100% efficiency?"

"Your concern is noted," Ovosh responded, "I am confident that I will be productive this morning. In fact, I volunteer myself to instruct this 'Kei', in the workplace. Relaying information should not be as energy intensive."

"If you are to be instructing him, then the rest of the group will have to increase our efforts," Bosch noted. It was indeed a concern, the complete imbalance that this stranger had wrought. Usually, preparations would be made for a teaching day. Certain workers would be partitioned to teach new transfers the specifics, schedules would be adjusted, and nutrition would be modified to account for these modifications. But with no prior warning, as the overseer had mentioned, the entire system was crippled.

...

A mess of wires, color coded for convenience was in a wild bloom. Of course, the wires were well organized, at least to Ovosh's specifications. She was currently clipping some to various places upon the green board that she was working on. Kei was rather close behind her, a pleasant position. His eyes were wide with fascination.

"This is a simple rewiring. Different parts of the city require different voltages, gains, and current during different times of the day. This schedule varies depending upon which day of the week it is. Right now, the ore processing division of the city typically increases production by 40%, as the miners are currently delivering the raw ore to the plant. As such..."

A blue wire and yellow wire were loosened, then Ovosh directed these two wires to a different destination on the vast motherboard. She then flipped some switches, and her changes to the power portioning were saved.

"Your group has control over the entire city," Kei noted.

"Not exactly," Ovosh countered, "If an inefficient change is made, we are notified. The overseer enforces any change from then on. Failure to comply results in removal from the duty, and immediate termination."

"Scary," Kei commented.

Scary? What was there to fear? As long as she did her duty to the Empire correctly, there was no chance of her being terminated. Even drastic dips in efficiency were solved by relocation and reconditioning. But what was there to fear with termination? Ovosh herself possessed little, so by losing her life, she would lose little, and her duty to the Empire would be fulfilled either way.

"Think little of it, the Empire will provide," Ovosh recited.

She could observe the red-headed man bow down his head a little. Ovosh speculated that his rather sparse nutrition was running low. The administration should take care of this little hiccup in the system by the next day. Hopefully, efficiency would not drop below acceptable levels.

"Don't you feel scared?" he suddenly asked. It came from out of the blue, but Ovosh had come to expect that as of now.

"A peculiar, and rather unnecessary question." Ovosh countered, "Come," she stood up, "We are wasting time."

"But it is necessary," Kei responded, his look now of impressive seriousness, "Aren't you worried that you could be just tossed aside, without warning, at the whims of whoever is in charge? I don't know about you, but that fact ... frightens me. I can't sleep knowing someone has that kind of power over me."

It was Ovosh's turn to give him a long hard look. There was something wrong with this man. Something was fundamentally wrong. He could not think the correct way. He was one who let disturbing thoughts, no, _welcomed_ the disturbing thoughts into his mind. He was one who stepped right into a taboo and barbaric deed of attempting to think about the system itself, not how to serve it. _Barbaric, wait, then that means that ..._

Before Ovosh could speak, the door to the regulator room was thrust open with incredible force. The overseer had appeared once more, and he wore the most stern expression on his face. Ovosh could tell that his expression was not directed towards her. The overseer was accompanied by two military personal, their sleek white helmets preventing Ovosh from identifying their gender.

He approached Kei rather slowly, like an rolling storm. Ovosh began perspiring once more. A deep desire began forming within the confines of her body, the need to exit the room as soon as possible. But, her muscles would not respond to her commands. So she stood there, at attention in respect for her overseer.

"I have double-checked the databases for our power plant. It appears as if you, TR-8R, are indeed a registered worker."

The overseer cleared his throat, while Ovosh could observe Kei swallow something, but she did not know what he had in his mouth previously. "I was concerned that I was not notified of your transfer. I wanted to ensure this would not occur again. So I checked the planetary database for your information, to ascertain your previous workplace ..."

At this, Kei's body visibly stiffened, and he began perspiring heavily. But, his expression changed, as his eyes began narrowing, and various facial muscles began contorting. And there was something else, something in the air that Ovosh could feel within her bones. Something large, something massive, something dangerous.

"... I found no record of citizen TR-8R. I then contacted the capital itself, and was granted a search. I still was unable to locate a TR-8R within the Imperial census. This means, you are unregistered in the Empire."

The overseer's mouth began to form into a strange formation. A smile, that's what it was called. But unlike when Kei would perform one, this action felt more ... frightening. Ovosh's body began generating tremors, struggling between trying to run, and trying to stay put.

"Now, why would there be an unregistered citizen in our power plant?" he questioned.

"Please sir, I can explain- " Kei began, but he was cut off swiftly. The tone of Kei's voice, however, had lost all desirable submissive qualities. It was laced with something quite different.

"Obviously, you wanted access to the power plant, but you do not seek to contribute to the Empire. Which leads me to conclude ... that you are a terrorist."

"I'm no terrorist," Kei countered. He stared straight into his interrogator's eyes, "I'm a freedom fighter."

The next sequence of events happened far too fast for Ovosh to comprehend. The terrorist thrust his hands forward, and from it, emerged a bright volatile yellow light, combined with an intense, almost inhuman shout. This light was clearly corporeal, it had mass, and weight. And a split second later, it had velocity. And this velocity carried the light straight into the overseer, forcing him through the adjacent wall, bending the metal material the wall was made of.

But all hell broke loose when the light detonated. The resulting explosion spewed an orange inferno of fire, and black clouds of smoke. The force from this explosion impacted Ovosh, sending her flying back, crashing into the wall closest to the control panel. Concrete, metal ,and various other materials that made up the building flew in a chaotic mess.

As the smoke began to clear, Ovosh could spot the outline of Kei. His hair was even more messed up than usual, and his eyes, his eyes held the most frightening light in them. He was visibly grunting, clearly struggling after having unleashed such destructive power. It was in Ovosh's natural instinct, to begin inching away slowly from this barbaric force of destruction incarnate.

But upon seeing Ovosh's struggling form, his expression changed from one of anger, to that of concern. He rushed over, holding out a hand to offer Ovosh assistance.

"Back off!" she shouted. A curious sensation on the vocal chords, shouting had, for Ovosh had so rarely done it.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I didn't want to do this in such a destructive way, but the overseer left me no choice."

Ovosh's breathing eased as she heard this. He was a terrorist however, so she was not sure why she was instinctively trusting him.

An alarm began sounding, changing pitch continuously and periodically. Throughout the city it could be heard. Military personnel could be seen, levitating from their original positions, and engaging to where they were needed. There was little chatter, and panic among the civilians, as they received instruction from the citywide speakers and military.

Inside the power plant, Kei expressed his frustration. "Crap!" he swore, "This is going to get messier than I wanted."

He turned to Ovosh once more, "If you want to live, come with me."

Ovosh breathed out in surprise, "And what can you do to assist me? Only the Empire can provide such protection..."

"The Empire is after me, and because to the Empire, people are a replaceable asset, they'll cut their losses, especially if it gives them the advantage."

Upon finishing this statement, the two guards that had accompanied the overseer emerged from the rubble, clearly intending to engage Kei. Both guards fired off energy blasts of their own, substantially smaller and weaker than the attack Kei demonstrated against the overseer. Kei lifted his arms into a defensive formation, and then swung them aggressively towards the attacks, successfully batting the offending blasts away. The projectiles impacted against the ceiling of the room, causing chunks of it to come crashing down.

The guards used the long-range assault as a distraction. Now they were within close-combat distance of Kei, and began throwing punches at him. Kei, however, was all-to-willing to engage, absorbing the attacks with his elbows, and ducking under others. He delivered a punch of his own, right into one of the guards' stomachs, sending the soldier flying into a concrete wall. The second used this opportunity to prepare a more potent attack, but Kei got the jump on him, interrupting the guard with a quicker, and far more powerful projectile attack, that sent him flying into a far side wall.

As he secured victory, the ground beneath began to collapse, and unfortunately Ovosh was in the immediate area of the event. She reached out to nearby equipment for support, but she was too slow in her actions, and began to plummet to the ground below. The room below was a large chamber where the main power was supplied. Ovosh, in the back, or in the front of her mind, knew this would be fatal. And for the first time in her life, ever since she left the womb, she screamed.

But her death was not to come, at least, not in this moment, for Kei had dived in after her, and managed to grab a hold of her body, and cease her terminal velocity. For moments, he floated in the chamber, standing on nothing but his own power. Slowly, but surely, he descended to the ground, putting Ovosh down as carefully as possible.

"You ... you prevented my life from being terminated." Ovosh stuttered, clearly in shock. "But why? Why concern yourself with the integrity of my life?"

Kei gave her a lengthy stare, before responding, "Because I'm not a barbarian, or a terrorist, or whatever you Imperials call me. I care about you."

"Then what about the lives of those you endangered up above?"

This question clearly affected Kei, in a negative way. He was shaking, his eyes were wide, and his voice formed small whimpering stutters. It was as if Ovosh herself dealt him a deadly physical blow that he was still recovering from. He was backing away from her, as if she were now a disgusting creature that he had to be rid of.

"I - I didn't think about that. I didn't ..." he bowed down and shook his head. "I never intended to hurt any of the civilians." And as he said this, he looked up once more, eyes locking with Ovosh's, "But I'm only mortal, and if someone is going to attack me, I have to defend myself."

Ovosh looked up from where she had fallen. It appeared he was indeed concerned for her life. But if he did concern himself with the lives of civilians, then why rescue _her_ of all beings? What did she hold that was more valuable than Kras, or Bosch, or any of her other coworkers?

"Why me?" she whispered.

Kei closed his eyes, breathing deeply. Upon opening them once more, his face wore a most serious expression, his tone matched that as well, "You, Ovosh, possess something very special. I don't know if you know about it, I don't even know the full extent of it. But, I do know that you possess power."

"Power?" Ovosh questioned, having difficulty comprehending what Kei was claiming.

"Yes, power," Kei confirmed, "Something within you, that when brought out, will change this galaxy forever."

He began slowly walking towards her, having fully regained his composure. "I once posed you a question earlier, that if you are scared of being a tool of your Empire. I asked if it bothers you, that you are nothing but a mere statistic, nothing but a number. That you are simply something to be used, and once used up, thrown away in the trash. Where I come from, the way I was raised, something like that frightens me down to my core. I don't like to feel powerless."

He paused, clearly impassioned.

"Ovosh, I want to give you something you have never possessed before as a citizen of the Galactic Terran Empire, a choice."

"A choice?" Ovosh queried. A choice, something that was better left off to those who were meant to. What business did he have offering her a choice? What indeed was a choice? Ovosh chose the pace at which she ate, was he saying that even the Empire determined that? Was it so bad that the Empire determined that?

"A real, actual choice," Kei elaborated, "I give you an offer to join Z, an alliance of warriors from around the galaxy who fear the Empire's shadow. Those who seek to offer the rest of the civilians of the galaxy, the freedom of decisions. The passion for life. And the opportunity to break their own limits."

Ovosh raised an eyebrow, "Those are blasphemous words you spout. I cannot trust you."

Kei nodded, "Know that I'm not forcing you to join Z. I would be no better than the Emperor himself if I did such a thing. But surely, there's some part of you that's intrigued by this? Some part of you that is itching to see, what's beyond the bubble the Empire has kept you in?"

There was. Something was drawing her in. It was on the tip of her tongue, to say "yes", and to depart, watching the blue sun of Vega in all its incandescent glory. Breathing air that the Empire did not instruct her to breath. But should she do that, she would betray everything her 18 year life had lead up to.

"I know this isn't easy for you. But, we don't really have forever for you to make this decision."

Yes, but such a so-called choice could not be rushed. As Ovosh pondered, debated and waited, an entirely new experience for her, she could see Kei disrobe his workers shirt, displaying a form fitting navy blue tank top. He was an impressive physical specimen, with stout muscles that were streamlined and toned enough not to be a burden. She could see him talking to a device on his wrist. Fellow terrorists? Perhaps. But did she desire to join up with these terrorists? Those who were so unenlightened?

But if that were the case, why did there seem to be ... more to this Kei? Something not entirely tangent was at the edge of her mind, something that concerned this stranger, this powerful soldier. Part of her wanted to explore that.

But, in the end, her logic won. He was a terrorist who had disrupted the peace of the land, and more importantly, the Empire.

"I cannot join you," Ovosh declared. She could not read Kei's expression, but continued with her elaboration, "it isn't possible. I cannot trust an enemy of the Empire. I can't do it."

"And that's your choice?" Kei inquired, his voice somber.

"Yes," Ovosh confirmed.

Kei exhaled deeply. He brought one of his hands up to rub his temples. Her decision clearly bothered him, but he shouldn't have been surprised. The Empire was too quick, and she was already in their clutches.

"Then ... I guess this is it," he whispered. There was a lump in his throat, a lingering sadness. Yes he had failed the mission, but there was something else. Beneath the programming, beneath the routine, beneath the logic...

"I can tell that you're a good person Ovosh," Kei said. He was now right up close to her, making Ovosh rather nervous. He put a hand on her shoulder. The physical contact made Ovosh incredibly uncomfortable, but she decided to tolerate the action. "Keep on being a good person, no matter what the Empire says. Think about what I have said to you, and perhaps, we'll meet again someday."

The words of Kei did stir something inside her, prompting her to say, "It was good meeting you Kei, I guess. You are indeed a peculiar specimen. Despite being a terrorist - I found you rather ..."

Something prevented Ovosh from finishing her statement. Her collar was filled with something hot, vibrant. It did not take long for her to realize it was an energy beam. This same energy beam had travelled through her left collar, and directly into the chest of Kei.

Behind Ovosh was the source of the attack, the overseer. He was breathing heavily, his right arm extended with two fingers pointed at his target. Smoke emitted from these fingers.

"Thank you Ovosh, you have gone above and beyond the call of duty." he declared, breathing heavily.

There was nothing to be said. A growing darkness expanded from the point of impact, and Ovosh felt her muscles grow limb, as she collapsed on the ground. She wanted to say something, but a viscious liquid flooded her mouth, preventing that. It began flowing out of her mouth, and matched the color of the liquid coming out of the hole in her collar. Red, bright red. It stained her uniform, painting it the morbid color of death.

Kei had it even worse. He was unable to speak, as the blood began to pool near his head. He was flat on his back, slowly soaking in a pool of the crimson liquid that tied him to the mortal realm. The overseer was now slowly approaching him, a satisfied expression on his face.

"Y...you b...astard," he struggled to say, his voice having trouble getting through the torrents of blood. "H..how could you? Your o..wn people?"

The overseer ignored him for the moment, glancing at Ovosh's fallen form. "Citizen SSJ-123, your sacrifice will not be forgotten. You will be held as an example of what every citizen in the Empire should aspire to be."

The honor was meaningless. Honor itself was irrelevant in the Empire. Ovosh was all alone now. Nothing but darkness was her company. She felt the conditioning the Empire had provided her beginning to slip, as feelings she had repressed were beginning to surface, burning through the barriers she had kept in place. What was the first one? It was fear, hopelessness. She was so easily sacrificed. She was just a number. She was just a cog, once found defective, tossed aside. The overseer was wrong, citizen SSJ-123 would not be remembered, she, it would fade into the same obscurity countless others had.

That fear was gradually replaced by something else, a intense burning. The feeling sent her body shaking, trembling. Perspiration was in her eyes, red hot as the feeling within her, the feeling that she had long kept repressed the day she was born. The feeling that she felt every time she looked upon her life, the emperor, her superiors, that she banished to the corners of her psyche. This feeling she experienced, every time she reminded that she was indeed a replaceable cog in the great machine of the Empire. The feeling she experienced every time she lamented her own insignificance.

Her vision was in clear focus. There was still darkness, but it had been illuminated by an intense light. A golden light. The golden haired monster was opposite of her once more. Ovosh's intense red-hot feelings somehow evoked the creature. It was giving her a long stern look, as if it was expecting Ovosh knew what to do next. It, no, she, opened her mouth, and let out a barbaric scream. It was a scream that personified this taboo emotion that Ovosh held in her heart, that had been brought to the surface this very moment. Ovosh could feel the scream inside her very heart, feel it give new life to her muscles, feel it stop the loss of blood just for one moment. But there was no mistaking it, that scream was with her voice, and it was the scream she was making just now. It was the second time in her life that she had screamed, but unlike the last one, this one was powered by the forbidden emotion, _rage_.

A pale-blue, volatile aura, shaped like the golden aura of the golden being, surrounded her. She was on her feet, still struggling to keep her balance. Yet, this rage allowed her enough energy to keep in balance. Her mind had lost all its sanity that the Empire had provided, and because of that, there was one clear action. The darkness had cleared, and the object of her rage was right in front of her.

"_How dare you_?" she seethed. Various materials began splintering under the weight of her rage. The ground underneath her feet began to crumble as well. Sparks of energy created even more rubble, Ovosh knew that these sparks were being emitted from her.

_"How dare you!?"_ she repeated, her voice louder and more intense. The overseer wore an expression mixed with confusion and fright. It was his turn to begin slowly backing away.

"CITIZEN SSJ-123! STAND DOWN!" he demanded, holding out his arms in self-defense.

"HOW DARE YOU!" was the animalistic response. Her power swelled, as well as her rage. Her mind was now filled with a single task. The task that she had to eliminate the existence of the overseer. Whether or not it served the Empire was irrelevant. Whether or not it was logical was irrelevant.

The overseer managed to calm himself, and his expression took one of stern seriousness. If the citizen had gone insane, then she simply had to be terminated. "Hmph," he concluded, "Then you leave me no choice." He presented his left arm, with his palm fully revealed. A ball of energy began forming, gathering energy to put a stop to this newly powered being. As the ball was gathering in strength, so did the strength and intensity of the animal in front of him grow.

With another inhuman scream, Ovosh, accelerated forward. Dust and debris were swept out of her path, making way for the rage-filled being. The overseer gave a shout in response as he fired off his attack. But the energy beam was insufficiently charged, and did not slow the bulldozing Ovosh, who shortly after shrugging of the attack, impacted the overseer.

Ovosh crashed down onto the floor. Her blue-white aura began to weaken, as her rage began to dwindle. The pain from her earlier wound, and the trauma along with it began to creep back. Frightened at what had overcome her, she turned back to get her bearings. What she saw was even more disturbing.

The overseer was struggling to stay on his feet. For now, there was a gigantic gaping hole ripped through his chest. The insides of his body had been cauterized from the intensity of the earlier attack. He began wheezing, squandering the last breath he would take in this realm. He then collapsed on the ground, motionless. He had been terminated.

His impact on the ground snapped Ovosh out of her trance. She began quivering, in utter disbelief of what had transpired.

"D-did I do that?" she asked to no one in particular. "Did I take his life?" Again, to no one in particular.

The cold hard truth hit Ovosh, harder than anything in the past hour could. She had consciously turned against the Empire. And now, there was nothing to do, she was backed into a corner, and slowly bleeding out.

"What have I done?" she whispered. Her eyes darted, finally spotting Kei sprawled on the floor. She called out to him, "KEI!". But he was as motionless as the overseer. She repeated her cry out to him, but got the same response. A different liquid began flowing from her face, this time, the source was her eyes. It wasn't the crimson liquid blood, it was clear as water. Tears, generated when emotions of great distress or sorrow were experienced.

"What have I done?" Ovosh repeated, choking through her tears. She kept repeating this phrase, but no one was there to hear it. She was all alone.

Part of the ceiling collapsed. It was part of the room that was not under any other level. As the chalk-white debris disintegrated, Ovosh could barely observe a ship, just outside the premise. Light flooded in the room, the blue-white light generated by the Vega star. This light, as well as the moisture in her eyes, made it difficult for her to make out any specific detail about this particular ship.

A compartment on the underside of the ship opened up, and a figure emerged from it. Upon clearing the light, she could see that he was a lankier figure than Kei. It was apparent he wasn't empire, the blue jacket he wore that ended at his ankles was something that no one in the Empire would dare don. On closer inspection, particularly because he was hurrying to her proximity, he too had unregulated hair like Kei, but his hair was simply messy, instead of spiky. It was also dark brown, and poofy. He appeared older than Kei, but still appeared as if he had a full life ahead of him, barring the nature of his work. His eyes were narrower than Kei's, and right now, filled with desperation as he made his way to Kei's fallen form.

Crouching down, he began shaking the body. "Kei, KEI!" he shouted, in vain, "C'mon kid, Reitoko specifically said that you were to come back alive! Don't do this to me!"

But, as expected, Kei did not respond. And to this, the man bowed his head down, his hair covering his eyes. He stayed there for but a moment, before moving his right hand over Kei's face. "You did well kid," he stated, then rose up from his crouch, and began making his way to Ovosh. Death was now grabbing at her, and she felt as if the hour was upon her.

"So, you're the person Kei died for," he stated, his glare rather hard. Upon saying this, he softened his look, perhaps realizing himself that he came across rather harsh. Putting his hands into compartments upon his coat, he changed topics, "We knew the risks coming in here. It was a risk we were going to take. It looks like Kei went all in and lost, and from the looks of it, you might be seeing him soon."

Ovosh opened her mouth, but throaty whimpers escaped. She could feel darkness, this time, the final darkness she would see, closing in upon her conscious mind.

"I would like to bring you back in alive, but as my leader specified, you have to be committed to the cause," he claimed, his hands were now shuffling in his pockets, clearly searching for something, "I don't know if Kei already made an offer to you, but just in case..."

He pulled the object he was searching for out of his pocket, fully displaying it to Ovosh, whose eyes widened. The object itself was unimpressive, a small kernel that was light gray in color. The man offering this bean continued, "If you want to die a citizen of the Empire, that's out of my hands. Even if you recover from this, they're not going to like that you've killed one of their lacky's ... and yes, I can tell that you did that."

Ovosh didn't react to his statement, her gaze directly focused on the bean. Despite being on the knife's edge of death, she fully understood him.

"But, if you want to live, and see what it really means to live, then take this bean I'm holdin' out here. It's of the senzu variety, and it'll give you a clear path out of the woods. But, as it is, whether you want to live or die, it's your choice."

Ovosh still kept staring at this "senzu bean", the events of her life flooding back. There was nothing of note, nothing she was proud of, nothing she was ashamed of, until this day. This day, she felt afraid, this day she felt rage, and on this day, she had felt happy. This day, was the first day she had lived, this day was what she would lose if she were to die.

Her hand struggled to reach its destination. The wound had sapped nearly all of her strength. But she had enough. At last, her hand was upon the man's hand, and she clasped it, as well as the bean. Pulling his hand closer, and by extension the bean, Ovosh said the words that ultimately decided her fate, "_I want to live_." How rejuvenating those words felt.

As Ovosh took hold of the senzu bean itself, she could see the man smiling. As strength flowed back into her after she had consumed it, she began to smile too.

"You have chosen, wisely."

He lifted her new rejuvenated body up, one arm under her knees, and one arm supporting her back, as he made his way back to the detonated gap in the ceiling. There was a rope Ovosh did not observe before coming from the ship. The man then attached this rope to a compartment on his waist. The rope began ascending, lifting Ovosh up to the heavens, and to the beginning of her new life.

* * *

I've gotten back into Dragon Ball Z a bit, or at least related material. Because of this renewed interest, my interest in writing this story has been raised. Feedback is, of course, appreciated.


	3. Chapter 2

_1000 years have passed since Majin Buu has fallen. The galaxy, has forever changed. Charged by new advancements, the Galactic Terran Empire rose from the blue planet of Earth, and crusaded across the galaxy, utterly crushing all opposition. They are now the dominant power of the quadrant, and there seems to be no stopping them. Only a handful of warriors stand a chance against the Empire, warriors who oppose everything it represents. But hope is scarce against this enemy, and all they have to go on are the echoes of the great legends, who spur them to one day overcome any who face them._

**Chapter 2: Dash for the Gates**

The light cleared as the two humans were lifted into the ship. Ovosh could make out the interior a lot better than when she was on the factory ground. It looked very cramped, bulky, and very cluttered. It was a far cry from the sleek, elegance and uniformity of the Empire. She was rather thrown off by this, but at the same time, there was an undeniable feeling of, what was it... homeliness? The ship itself was drawing her in, literally, and figuratively. In many of the other buildings, despite thousands upon thousands of occupants, they felt lifeless. The ship itself, however, felt very much alive.

The lift halted, as both her and her new rescuer were completely engulfed by the ship's interior. The man unclipped his harness, releasing both him and Ovosh from it. Ovosh steadied herself on her feet, surprised she could stand. She then remembered the strange pill she had consumed, the senzu bean. It appeared it had restored the strength she had previously lost in the catastrophe. The weariness, the darkness, it had all been banished. She then looked to her collar, below her shoulder, where the overseer had wounded her. Ovosh gasped in surprise, for while there was a hole in her gray worker's uniform, her flesh was clearly visible under it, full and healthy. No gaping hole where her entrails were visible was present.

The entrance to the ship began to hiss shut. The man had moved over to a control panel close to the opening. Ovosh assumed this panel held the means to accomplish this. Upon further observation, the panel was much like the interior of the ship itself, clunky, yet charming. Large dials, knobs, switches and levers occupied it. They all were visibly lacking cleanliness.

Her rescuer looked up, finished with whatever he was doing. "Alright kid, follow me to the cockpit, we're not out of the woods yet."

He gestured to her, which Ovosh recognized as a signal for her to follow. It was rather unnecessary since he gave a verbal command, but she didn't feel it was critical that she inform him of his blunder. She dutifully followed him through the various doors and passageways of the craft. The rooms resembled the load dock area, clunky and cramped. In one room, there were several bottles filled with liquids of various amber shades. Some were without caps; the amount of liquid was lower than some of the ones with caps.

Ovosh would only get a brief glance, however, as they finally arrived to the cockpit. Never in her life, had Ovosh seen so many buttons, knobs, and levers compressed in one room. The walls, the wide-bulky control panel at the front of the cockpit, the ceiling, all were covered in some sort of technology that assisted with the operation of the ship. Only the windows, which gave a clear wide view of the cityscape sprawled before them, were not touched.

"Take a seat," said the man, already seated himself, pushing buttons, twisting knobs, and pulling levers in a chaotic frenzy, far different than any routine Ovosh had observed in her lifetime. There were two seats in the room, so the choice was easy, she would take the right-most seat, colored a faded red, with an oversized head rest, and peeling fabric.

"Don't forget to buckle your seatbelt, things are about to get interesting," he suggested, not even making an effort to make eye contact with her.

"I do not know the context in which you define 'interesting'" Ovosh noted, clear anxiety seeping into her tone.

Finally, the man turned to look in her direction. One of his eyebrows was raised, which irritated Ovosh by the tiniest amount. "'Interesting as in we're probably meeting our maker today."

As he turned away, he did mention, "The name's Percy by the way, I figure it's fair that you know my name, as we know yours, Ovosh."

He turned swiftly away, grabbing an object on the wall nearest to him. It was attached to said wall by a dark grey spiraling cord. There was small grates on one of the wide surfaces on this object, indicating it was a communicator of some sort. Percy began barking orders into the communicator, with a tone sharper and harsher than Ovosh ever heard.

"Boy! Get those engines fired up! Unless you want the Empire to catch us!"

Deep within the bowels of the ship, large pipes and clunky machinery surrounded the lone youth who was panting heavily. He held a strange device in his right hand, as he tampered with these clunky machines. Large goggles were adorned over his striking green eyes. He rubbed his free forearm across his moist brow, hidden behind layers of messy golden-brown hair. His mechanics suit was a few sizes too big for him, and the blue overalls and brown shirt were clearly a few years old. Hearing Percy's low, growling sharp voice through the ship's communicator, the young man leapt from his seated position, and began messing around with the various knobs and levers attached to a control panel slapped on top of the machinery. The engines gave an approving roar in response to the boy's actions.

A higher-pitched, more youthful, yet clearly male voice responded through the speaker, apparently manipulated by the electronics, "I'm already on it capt'n, her thrusters are all yours."

An alarm began sounding, an alarm clearly different than the alarms that usually would sound within the city. Percy cursed as he brushed a hand through his poofy excuse for hair. He looked at one of the main consol screens, a radar. The green-lined display showed four red dots in tight formation headed towards the center.

"We've got company," he stated, then placed his hand on one of the large levers, located in-between his seat and Ovosh's. Ovosh herself was fumbling with the seatbelt, it's design wasn't exactly the same as the standardized seatbelts of the Empire. Through some deductive reasoning, and a little bit of effort, she was able to secure herself to the seat.

Seeing Ovosh in place, Percy, moved the lever forwards, providing the appropriate thrust to the ship. The large bulky freighter shot forward, lifting off from the dreary depths of the city, away from the small wreck of the factory. Several kilometers away, four soldiers flew in formation, closing on the ship. The soldier in front of the pack had specialized markings, signifying him as a squad leader. With a combination of non-verbal signals, the four Imperial soldiers increased their speed, just as the freighter was blasting off. Their speed, however, was not sufficient enough as of yet to gain any distance on the now ascending ship.

Ovosh could feel her body being pressed to the seat, as the freighter accelerated. The stars that had been hidden from her for so long were now beginning to become visible as the sky darkened. Her eyes widened, as even more stars she thought possible could exist began to reveal themselves. It was quite a miraculous sight, to be able to see thousands of brilliant plasma orbs from such a great distance, as they were burning away for billions upon billions of years. Such a vast portion of the galaxy was visible to her, and it had been revealed to her all at once. Naturally, such an event was much to take in. But, then again, there were many surprises Ovosh had experienced this day.

As the bulky craft cleared the last layer of visible atmosphere, the squad leader of the four Imperial soldiers messaged back home to base, his tone emotionless and flat. "Target has cleared the planet's atmosphere. Projected course, Vega jump node. Distance to projected destination, 100 kilometers. Please advise."

An equally emotionless and flat voice responded over the communicator within the soldier's helmet, "Engagement of hostile craft authorized. Termination of hostile craft authorized."

"Order confirmed," stated the squad leader, holding out his right arm in front of his featureless helmet. With this, he typed in a few sequences on a key pad attached to his wrist. A small suction noise could be heard, as his uniform began sealing itself to protect his body from the hostile conditions of space. The other soldiers in his squad did the same. The squad leader then began his non-verbal gestures once more. Confirming his orders, the other four soldiers, along with the soldiers once gain sped up, this time, rapidly gaining on the escaping freighter.

This fact was evident on the radar Percy was currently monitoring. "So," he breathed, as he watched the red dots begin to eat up the distance between them and his ship like no other, "they've finally started to play."

Ovosh took her eyes off of the sea of stars to stare back at Percy as he began rummaging through the gauntlet of knobs and buttons on his ship. "What's happening?" she asked.

"The fun's about to begin," Percy answered, as he once again grabbed his communicator. "Alright boy!" he shouted, "we're about to be taking on some heavy fire! I want those shields up pronto!"

"You know, I have a radar down here Perc, you don't need to tell me to raise the shields!" responded the boy, clearly flustered. He began keying sequences on the control panel, and adjusting some knobs with his wrench to appease the orders of his captain.

"I don't leave anything to chance boy!" Percy declared into the communicator, he then looked up, clearly reconsidering his claim, "Actually, I do leave a lot to chance." he murmured, then raised his voice once more as he barked, "Just get on those shields!"

The report located on the visor of the helmet indicated that the squad was now five thousand kilometers from their target. "Optimal firing range reached," he reported to his comrades through the helmet's communicator. All four simultaneously raised their right arm angling it towards their target. Each of their hands were fully extended, forming some sort of "stop" signal to the hostile ship. It was in a way, appropriate, this was their duty. But complete annihilation was one of a few ways to technically "stop" a ship.

Bright yellow energy formed in front of their hands. The intensity of the energy grew as the orbs of energy grew in size. After the appropriate amount of time to charge their attacks, the squad leader yelled, "Fire!" which sent these highly condensed packets of energy streaking towards their target.

Another alarm sounded within the ship. Percy, and Ovosh could observe smaller, yet faster red dots headed their way as represented by the radar. Percy looked desperately at Ovosh, "Brace for impact kid!" he ordered.

The attacks met their mark, and detonated, consuming the bulky freighter in a brilliant yellow flash. The yellow inferno gave way to grey smoke filling up the space the yellow light show had occupied. This smoke then cleared quickly, as a result of the reduced pressure of space, revealing the target intact.

A glowing, translucent energy field had surrounded the freighter, or more accurately, the backside of the ship. This energy rippled, before dissipating itself. Observing this, the squad leader notified the others with his communicator, "Be advised, the freighter possesses type-A deflectors, switch to barrages to wear down their shielding. Concentrate your fire on one quadrant for maximum effect."

The other soldiers nodded, confirming their superior's orders. The four then extended both of their arms out, in the same formation as before. Yellow orbs began forming in front of their limbs once more. But, instead of a single blast from each of them, numerous smaller bolts began emitting from their hands. It formed a volatile curtain of explosions that rocked the ship. Transparent energy flashes displayed where the bolts made impact, if they even hit their target.

In the ship, the situation was no less volatile. Percy was shouting unspeakable banalities as the turbulent nature of the flight began tossing both his and Ovosh's bodies in their seats. The occupant in the engine room of the freighter had it even worse, as he, nor any of his tools were secured to anything. He began screaming and shouting unintelligible gibberish as he tried to keep his tools, and himself in the same relative area without suffering too many injuries.

"We're taking too much fire!" Percy shouted to no one and everyone. He picked up the communicator as his other hand was dancing across the controls, swinging and swerving the bulky contraption though the maze of flashing energy and bright explosions. "Damn," he exclaimed, then began barking into his communicator again, "keep those shields steady, unless you want to be floating back to Vega Four, boy!"

Ovosh became frozen as she stared at the chaos unfolding. An indicator on the front control panel showed, what she believed to be the status of the ship's shields. The shields were represented by four quadrants which formed a neat ellipse around a top-down view of the ship. Three of the quadrants were bright, solid, and green upon the display. The rear quadrant was red, dull and flashing. Various alien alarms sounded in the cockpit, as Percy's hands began fiddling with everything and anything that would allow them to last in this world just a bit longer. She felt herself sinking in her chair, covering her ears. It was too much, and once again, she was on the verge of death. Ovosh desired, nothing more than now, that her subconscious was plaguing her, and moments later, she would be reporting to a conditioning ward to have her psyche checked out, and realigned.

Percy's eyes darted around, to the view outside his cockpit, to the various displays on his HUD. _This trip is going to be real short ... unless_. There was something that caught his eyes. Rocky formations that had become much larger as the ship had sped away from Vega Four. If he could recall, the planet was surrounded by a substantial ring system. From his view, up close, the debris forming the rings didn't look too tightly packed, but there were substantial chunks, and enough of them, to serve his purposes. He grinned, as he steered the ship, on a direct course for the field.

"Wait," he heard from the engine room, via the speaker, "You're not doing what I think you're doing?"

"And what are you thinking, genius?" snarled Percy, rather playfully into the handheld communicator, as he maneuvered the ship through the hellzone that the Imperial soldiers had created for them.

"You want to navigate _through_ the planets rings, right?" the nervous mechanic asked.

"Bingo," Percy quipped nonchalantly, glancing at Ovosh's nervous face, as she huddled out of fear in the ragged chair of the co-pilot's seat.

"_Do you even know the odds of us surviving that?_" squeaked the voice through the speakers.

"Yes, and they're higher than if we're just floating out around here," Percy shot back, then hung up the communicator, lamenting rather sarcastically to the shivering Ovosh, "Don't listen to him kid. We're having fun, right?"

Ovosh did not respond, except for a quick flicker of her eyes. Percy could also detect a bit of a glare as her brown eyes met his own. "Well, suit yourself," he said, as he pushed a lever forward, propelling the freighter into the depths of the rocky field of the Vega Four's rings.

The rocks were not motionless. They were earthen brown in color, though some would display a hint of metallic blue, all due to the Vega star. The dulled, rust brown metal of the freighter showed little shine as it bucked and swerved, avoiding energy blasts and space debris. The barrage did lighten, as some of the rocks did provide some form of cover for the bulky ship. Smaller, pebble-sized chunks, comparatively speaking, bounced off the energy shield of the freighter. The energy rippled and glowed little, demonstrating that the kinetic force the rocks inflicted, inflicted minimal damage.

The imperial soldiers had slightly more difficulty navigating through the asteroid field. Despite possessing a smaller bodies and masses to maneuver with, their standardized move-set was simply not as effective as the artistic performance that Percy's ship was putting out. The rocks threw off the aim of some of the soldiers as they sped through the field. After the freighter dodged an especially fast and large rock, the rear most soldier in the formation was hit by that same chunk, sending him veering off-course. This stalled the rest of the squadron, and halted their fire, as they waited for the lone soldier to catch up, and re-assume formation. This pause in their attack, of course, allowed their target to recharge its shields.

Not everything had turned sunny for the crew of the valiant ship. The rocks themselves had thrown them off course, as Percy grimaced as the ship impacted a particularly large rock. This sent the appropriate shocks through the ship, sending the mechanic in the engine room off of his seat, and unnerving Ovosh even more. As he tried to steer the ship back on course, Percy checked his radar once more, the red dots were moving away from the middle, signifying that the ship was lengthening the distance between itself and the soldiers. _Good, the more the merrier. Those soldiers can close the gap pretty quick, however._

"Stay on alert!" shouted a desperate voice, as Percy swerved the ship to avoid another large rock. Ovosh was the origin of the voice, and she kept repeating this phrase, pointing to several different chunks that had a relatively good chance to impact the freighter. This peeved Percy to his breaking point, boiling over when he snapped, "CAN IT!" effectively silencing the girl.

An alarm sounded once more. Percy looked to the radar, realizing that he had taken his eyes off it for too long. The imperials were on them, nearly next to the ship, and were headed on a direct course towards them. Mentally cursing, Percy hazarded a guess that his path had been so non-linear through the ring field that the soldiers, with their comparatively smaller bodies, must have found a more direct route to their target.

"Port side deflectors, at max!" Percy demanded, as an intense barrage of golden energy cascaded over the ship, furiously dancing over the energy shield, which gave way in some areas. The freed Ki energy impacted the ship, blowing away small metal chunks, igniting the surface. Deep in the engine room, the mechanic panicked, "They hit lateral control!"

"Don't worry, she'll hold together," Percy attempted to reassure. And, to reassure himself, he requested, "C'mon baby, hold together,"

White steam began pouring into the cockpit, the source was through a crack in the ceiling. Ovosh averted her head, giving out a small shout of surprise, while Percy nonchalantly keyed in a couple of button presses on the ceiling, effectively stopping the flow of condensed gasses. Ovosh blew out a stream of air, as a sign of relief, despite the fact that she had no working knowledge of what the gas was. Still, she could deduce that their freighter was not in an optimal state. The soldiers had flown away, and were not currently firing at the freighter. Still, there was a part of her that dreaded the second pass of the imperials. She wondered if death, which she had seemingly avoided this day time after time, would finally catch up to her.

Percy too feared this, though he was handling this fear a different way. While Ovosh tried suppressing these distracting thoughts, Percy sought to confront them. But, the only way to do just that, was to confront the soldiers.

He looked to Ovosh, and to her, presented a comforting smile. At least, that was what he considered comforting. Her quivering began to subside, as she stared back at him, rather confused at his apparent happiness at their current situation.

"I'm done running, at least for now," Percy confided with her, "Those bastards are going to keep us in this system for as long as they're alive."

"What do you mean by that?" Ovosh asked, thought part of her knew the answer.

"Their second pass-through, once they fire at us, we'll fire back," he answered, and without missing a beat, he unhooked the communicator, his voice a lot calmer than it usually would be when he spoke into it.

"Alright kid, we're taking the Imps out, direct power to the weapons, and prepare for attack speed."

"You're going to _attack_ them?" the mechanic questioned through the speakers, clearly unsupportive of Percy's scheme. The captain was clearly not amused with his subordinate's lack of faith in him and shot back, "You have any better ideas, _genius_?" This comeback, while not the most creative, nor tactful, was enough the silence the nosy mechanic, as he began recalibrating the ship's power.

The freighter itself went through a visible change as it began to swerve around to attack the offending soldiers. A compartment, located right beneath the cockpit, began to open up, revealing a rather large barrel fastened to mechanical supports, which now moved to present the weapon. Also visible were two metal prongs, flanking this cannon, one on its left and one on its right. Clearly, to any well-informed observer, this was a weapon of volatile potential.

The pilot licked his lips, as a control stick he had taken a hold of to his right revealed a red trigger where his index finger now rested. Clearly, Percy was excited about the destructive forces that now lay at his fingertips. Still, the world was not right.

"Alright kid, I need a favor from you. This needs to get done rather quickly, because our Imperial friends are gearing up for another attack, and my guess is, they're going to put a bit more juice into this one than the last."

"A favor?" Ovosh questioned, turning her head to face her wild-haired copilot. "I am ... unfamiliar with the term. Could you mean, that you require some ..."

"... service! My God kid, the Imps really did a number on you, did they?" Percy finished for her, clearly frustrated. "There is a round bottle of liquid, it's called HFIL's nectar. I have no idea in hell what the syllables HFIL stands for, but that doesn't matter. This bottle is located on the top cupboard, third from your left."

After pausing for a bit, he asked, "you know what a cupboard is, right?"

Ovosh looked back, her expression resuming a regulated neutral state, the expression she had held ever since she was taught, as she replied back, "I know what a cupboard is."

"Well good, now you know what to do," Percy said, smiling as he laid back in his seat, "And make it snappy."

Ovosh followed his commands to the letter as she dashed out of her rickety seat, remembering to unbuckle herself first. She skidded through the entrance to the cockpit into the room before it, and located what she assumed was the top cupboard. Manually counting as quickly as she could, she opened the third door from the left, and saw what Percy had described. It was a rather large, rounded vial of liquid, once again, as Percy had specified. Ovosh could see the letters "HFIL" inscribed on it, but the labelers were rather incompetent in that regard, as they were not using a standardized font, thereby limiting Ovosh's initial comprehension. No matter, she climbed onto the counter below, seeing as she was not tall enough to reach the bottle, and retrieved it without incident. An efficient task accomplished, as she did not anticipate much time had passed.

The engineer boy had meanwhile kept a nervous golden eye on a monitor, apparently surveying the area. From his expression, it would be clear to any that he did not like what he saw. Panicking, he snatched his communicator to alert Percy of what he had saw.

"Perc! They're giving us the turtle wave! Our shields won't be able to repel an attack of that magnitude in its current state!"

In the cockpit, Percy simply held a finger of silence to the speaker which the informing voice had come from, not caring that the boy in the engine room could not read his expression. He knew. But that worked to their advantage, as it gave him more time to be prepared, as he played around with the joystick that held the key to their victory.

Ovosh emerged, bringing the vial of liquid with her. "You might have just saved our skins," Percy exclaimed, with a big smile on his face, as he accepted the bottle from Ovosh's outstretched hands. He unscrewed off the top, and downed some of the amber liquid. He shook his head as the liquid passed from esophagus to stomach.

"What was the purpose of that liquid?" Ovosh inquired. Was it some sort of battle stimulant? But from what Ovosh was allowed to know, battle stimulators where taken by shot, not by ingestion. Percy shook his head, but his response contradicted his actions, "Well, you're kind of right. It does help me during battle. You know what? Here."

He held out the bottle to Ovosh, with the cap still unscrewed. "You'll probably need some. Anyways, I heard from one of my buddies in the olden days that they brew a special rum in hell for people who waste good scotch."

Ovosh had no idea what he meant, but took the man by his word, as Percy began dialing in several combinations in his massive array of controls, presumably to power up the weapon the ship had presented to their adversaries.

Their adversaries meanwhile had a clear shot at the ship, and had paused as their target came to a halt, and appeared to reveal a weapon. The commander halted his subordinates, giving new visual commands. His soldiers nodded in response, and assumed new stances, mimicking his, pulling back their arms, and cupping them.

"_Kame-_" began their unison incantation, with intense, yet emotionless voices, as blue orbs of ki began to gather in each of their cupped hands.

"_Hame-_"

Percy meanwhile was finishing up the protocols for his attack, as an energy orb began forming in front of the barrel, purple in color, surrounded by cackles of electricity. He scanned the area in front of him with his eyes, making out the four faint, but distinct blue energy orbs. The orbs suddenly puffed up in size, a sign that they were ready to unleash their attack. Smiling, he thumbed the trigger to his weapon, as he was ready too.

"_HA!_"

And with that shout, the soldiers launched their hands forward, sending the blue energy streaming towards the hapless freighter. From the size and intensity of these beams, they were clearly the most powerful attacks that they had launched at their target.

But Percy had a retort, as he squeezed the trigger, and unleashed a powerful purple beam, which was covered in electrical cackles. Both attacks quickly converged on each other, their clash illuminating the asteroid field in brilliant displays of blue and purple. It was clear from the onset, that the combined might of the soldiers would prevail, as the blue beam began pushing back the purple one, akin to a weaker arm wrestler beginning to lose his ground.

Ovosh could see the brilliant convergence close in on the ship from the window, as her eyes were dominated by the bright lights. The freighter began to rumble from the awesome power in conflict, power that Ovosh could feel within her very bones, as once again, she was on the slippery edge. She looked to Percy, who was visibly sweating, with a strained expression on his face, as if his will was keeping their attack from losing any more ground than it was.

After surveying the situation, and determining that things would not begin to look up if the circumstances were to remain the same, Percy reached for the communicator once more. "Overload the cannon boy! We're going to be dust at this rate!"

Instead of a frightened retort or doubtful objection, nothing was said. Percy worried that the kid had either abandoned his post, or had been somehow killed. These worries were swept aside, as vitals aboard his ship indicated that his gun had a lot more power at its disposal. With another smile, he murmured, "God bless you Victor," as he redirected the new potential to the gun.

The purple beam expanded, trembling with the new ferocious energy that Percy had pumped into it. Now the freighter's attack began to push back the blue beams from the imperial soldiers. There were no visible signs of panic as the soldiers began realizing they were on the losing side of the battle. Instead, there was more visible effort put into their attacks, intending to starve off the coagulation of opposing forces as it closed in on them. But their efforts were to no avail, as the more powerful attack kept on its inevitable towards the imperial soldiers.

They were consumed by the incandescent chaos, swallowed up one by one in a flash of light. And they met their fate when the flurry of energy detonated, filling up the asteroid field, giving the impression that a miniature star had formed within the planets rings. Ovosh had to shield her eyes from this blinding sight, as the ship's viewpoint was filled with the supernova of ki and antiprotons.

The light began to fade, as the miniature supernova shrunk back to its point of origin. In the space filled by the catastrophe, there was nothing but dust. No signs of their pursuers' existence were apparent from the ships viewpoint, nor from the various instruments aboard the cockpit.

It took a few moments after everything had settled in the vacuum of space for Ovosh to realize the truth about her situation, to realize the absolute horror of what had just occurred. "The soldiers are dead," she flatly stated. All her life had she looked to them, the faceless protectors of their Empire. Every day she had lent her support to them, to crush all who threatened the security of the Empire. Now, she had witnessed the death of these protectors.

She shrunk back in her seat, "I killed them," she breathed out. The bottle of unknown liquid was clutched close to her chest, as if cold glass would provide any comfort.

"No, " Percy corrected, giving the girl a quizzical look as her face took upon the look of horror, "_We_ killed them." Upon seeing that this didn't improve Ovosh's spirits, he attempted to justify even more, "If we didn't kill them, they would have killed us. But that's war for you, kid." Upon saying this, did his normally gruff and harsh tone soften. Instead of burning snark and scalding sarcasm, it was filled with caring warmth, and weariness.

It seemed the girl did settle down, even just a bit. Percy gave her a smile, the first one not tainted with battle-lust in a good while. She did not return his smile, but did seem to perk up a bit. "It is true, isn't it?" she asked, though it was not clear if she had directed the question to Percy, or no one in particular.

Percy shook his head in confusion, "what's true? I don't get it."

Ovosh bowed down, before finally turning to face the pilot, a most serious expression upon her face. Her brown eyes seemed to burn with intensity. "I am an enemy of the Galactic Terran Empire. Never, in any of the wildest of circumstances could I have projected this. It was a logical impossibility. And now, here I am, relieved at the death of Imperial soldiers."

Percy settled back into his seat, flipping some controls in order to prepare the ship for their final escape. "Well, the journey doesn't end here. Get used to seeing the impossible kid. Otherwise, you'll go insane."

Without another word, the ship moved forward, out of the planet's rings, and away from the world Ovosh had known her entire life. Now it was a simple background, pasted against the canvas of stars which held other worlds. Worlds that now, their clunky freighter was now headed to.

"How you holding up boy?" Percy asked into his communicator, his snide and sarcasm returning to his voice.

"Just wonderful," the boy replied. He was clearly not amused. His quarters were filled with smoke, smoldering metal, and broken controls. However, by his evaluations, what he needed was still functional. "Overloading the cannons did a real number on the ship's reactor. We're quite fortunate we can still enter subspace. I do suggest we avoid the scenic route back to Capella, I don't want any more mileage than necessary on our reactor."

"Oh Victor, " Percy chuckled, "You're such a bore." Before the boy named Victor could put in a retort, Percy blasted off to maximum speed, following the guidance of the consoles on his ship.

Suddenly, alarms began blaring, as on the radar and scanners on the ship, hostile blimps began showing up. They were numerous, Percy could see hundreds. The ship's instruments would not be able to tell the full story, if hundreds had shown up here, Percy could guess that their full opposition lay in the thousands. Surely, their mighty ship would not survive such an onslaught. It was fortunate that these hostiles would never catch up to them. They were too close to their destination.

Percy grasped the communicator, "Kid, prep the subspace device, we're one click away from the jump node."

Victor keyed in the combinations to accommodate his captain's orders. Looking towards the front of the ship, he witnessed the device that would be the means to their escape. It lay as a log on the ground, but with many mobile parts, that now rotated, forming a blue field around it.

Outside, a blue flash appeared in front of the ship. This flash evolved into a shimmering glow, a fully functional portal. The wavelengths of this portal gave the appearance of a disturbance in water. The freighter accelerated, hurling itself towards this portal, until it made contact. The portal gave the impression that it was swallowing the ship in. Once fully inside, the portal closed, sealing itself with the same brilliant flash of blue.


End file.
